Islandside Property Owners Coalition President Bob White urged some Key residents in an e-mail to vote for the incumbents in this election, who he believed were better suited to uphold the town’s current codes and reject the club’s current application as proposed.

Despite the fact that Rothenberg and O’Connor could not take a stance on the Islandside application that’s before the town, White believed they were better choices than their opponents, who were dubbed by some as running on a pro-development ticket.

Both Larson and Brenner were able to unseat the incumbents, despite thousands of dollars that Islandside residents contributed to both Rothenberg’s and O’Connor’s campaigns.

“I don’t think some Islandside residents are ready for change and those contributions to my opponent reflected that,” Brenner said. “But, in the end, it didn’t matter because the majority of the people around this island are fed up with a commission that doesn’t do much of anything.”

The turnout for Election Day on Longboat Key was average, however, despite the fact that the commission elected not to hold early voting on the island this year.

The town of Longboat Key reported that only 135 registered voters took advantage of early voting on the mainland this year, compared to 1,201 registered voters who voted early on the island in one week alone last year.

This year, 2,970 total votes were cast Key-wide, or 47% of the town’s 6,330 registered voters. Last year, 2,294 total votes were cast Key-wide, or 35% of the town’s 6,502 registered voters.